Team B
by crystalwanghy
Summary: For the NMTD fandom- what I think happened prior to the filming of "BLEURGH"
1. What Happened At 2 AM

It was getting late. Ben and Bea had already signed off for the night; they'd finished all the videos. Bea yawned as she got into her pajamas (the giraffe onesie, just because it was comfortable). God, she was tired.

It'd been really eye-opening, really, seeing all the videos she hadn't watched because she had hated Ben, really actually _hated_ him back then (the thought seemed strange now), or just because she didn't really have the time.

Also, there was Balthazar's music. She had known he was talented, but wow. Just wow. She still didn't quite get that one about Pedro though, or _why_ Balthazar would write a song about him, but that was a question for another day. She needed her sleep.

But for some reason, the sleep wouldn't come, and she couldn't help thinking about "An Ode". And Beatrice knew her own brain well enough to know it wasn't going to let her get _any_ sleep until she'd at least rewatched the song. Letting out a sigh of frustration, she flipped her laptop open and fished around the ground for her earbuds.

_Seems it's about time these words were spoken… _

_This is an ode to Pedro._

The song was over. Bea stared at her computer screen, not even noticing when the video automatically changed to the next one in the playlist. How could she have missed this? It was _so_ obvious! Beatrice played "An Ode" one more time just to make sure she was right. The second listen only confirmed her suspicions.

Bea grabbed her cell phone and immediately dialed Ben. He picked up on the third ring.

"Hey dickface!"

The only thing Bea got in reply was a mumbling noise.

"Dickface! Wake up already!"

This time Ben's words were slightly more intelligible. Bea still couldn't quite make out the words, but she knew there were quite a few curse words in there. Also "2 in the morning".

"_Ben!_ You have to watch 'An Ode' again!"

No reply.

"_Ben! Wake. Up._"

"Can it wait?"

_Thank god, an answer this time! _"No. It can't."

A groan came from Beatrice's phone, then a resigned, "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Watch 'An Ode' again."

"_What_?"

"Watch 'An Ode' again! And this time _listen_, _really_ listen."

"Fine. But I don't see why this is so important."

Bea heard a clattering as Benedick got his computer and headphones. The line was silent for about three minutes. Then Ben returned to the call.

"I watched it."

"_And…_?"

"And what?"

"And what did you think?"

"That I really want to _go back to sleep_!"

Bea facepalmed. "Anything else? _Think about the lyrics._"

"Sorry. Still getting nothing."

"_Balthazar has a crush on Pedro."_

The line went silent again. Finally, Ben replied. "You know, that actually kinda makes sense..."

"Of _course_ it makes sense! He wrote him a fucking _song_, for goodness sakes!"

Ben seemed completely awake now. "Well then, what do we do now?"

"Message the others in the morning. Team Love Gods has a new target."


	2. Meeting

Ursula had woken up this morning to her phone beeping: new message from Benedick Hobbes. Now she was sitting cross-legged on Bea's bed, along with Claudio, Meg, Hero, and Ben, wondering when Ben and Bea were planning to tell her what the hell they were doing. Not that she didn't have at least a faint idea.

Ben's message had been pretty enigmatic: meeting at Bea's after school, TELL NO ONE. But she came anyway, just out of curiosity. She'd been a little surprised to see everyone else there, but after that, it wasn't too difficult to guess what was going on. They- Bea and Ben- too had figured it out. Took them long enough.

Bea began the meeting. "So you're probably all wondering why I've called you all here today. Well, we- me and dickbag here- are starting Team Love Gods 2. And who are we setting up this time?" Bea paused for effect, then said slowly, "Judging by the missing people, Pedro and Balthazar."

Ursula prevented herself from smiling just in time. So she_ had_ been correct.

Claudio however, did not take it so easily. "Wait, who?" Claudio looked at Bea in confusion, and Ursula couldn't help noticing he was sitting right next to Hero, a little too close for her, and as she noticed, Bea's comfort.

"Pedro and Balthazar!" Meg replied. "It's perfect!"

"I think they'd be really great for each other," Hero said.

"Well, actually, now that I think about it, it _does_ seem right..."

"Ursula!" Bea cried suddenly, "You're being awfully quiet. I mean, quieter than usual. You and Balthazar are best friends, you know him better than anyone, don't you have anything to say?"

"Um, actually... I… might've already known. Quite a while ago, actually."

"You _what_? You _knew_ Balthazar was in love with Pedro, and you never told us?"

"Well... he never _said_ I couldn't tell anyone, but I felt that he would feel uncomfortable if I shared it with everyone, especially as he wasn't sure about Pedro's feelings for him."

" Well then, I guess we're just going to subtly set them up then? No more _overhearing fake conversations _then, huh?"

Benedick raised his hand and nearly hit Bea in the eye. "Actually, I don't think 'subtle' is going to work. I mean, did you _see_ Pedro's description of 'An Ode'? We need to do something_ drastic_ to get the message through that thick skull of his."

"What do you suggest then?" asked Beatrice.

"Hmm... ooh ooh! We should... get a basketball! And write, 'BALTHY LOVES YOU' on it, and then, we should throw it at Pedro's face!" Ben cried excitedly.

Bea groaned. "Let me rephrase that question. Any _good_ suggestions?"

Claudio raised his hand. "Write 'BALTHY LOVES _PEDRO_' on the basketball instead, just in case Pedro thinks we chucked it at the wrong person."

Bea took a pillow and threw it at Claudio. "Okay. Let's try another line of questioning. What's the main thing that's preventing their relationship right now?"

Ursula tentatively raised her hand. "Lack of communication, I think. That, and uncertainty."

Bea furrowed her eyebrows. "Could you please expand on that?"

"Well, first, Balthazar has had a crush on Pedro for a long time already, but he's been too scared to talk to him because he's almost certain Pedro's perfectly straight and if he didn't like him back, that would pretty much be the end to their friendship. So he's been giving him a few meaningful looks, but that's basically it. 'An Ode ' was the closest thing to a full-out confession that he ever got to."

"Pedro, on the other hand, is confused. He doesn't know how to feel, because he's no longer certain about his sexuality, and nothing is certain for him anymore. Now he's made a _huge_ mistake, and he doesn't know if Balthazar still returns his feelings, or if he _ever _did: maybe it's all in his head. There's no way for him to know for sure.

"The thing is, neither of them can figure out the answers to their questions unless they actually talk to each other about their feelings. But they're both too scared. If we're going to help Balthazar and Pedro, we need to find a way to get them brave enough to properly communicate."

Silence greeted Ursula's words. Finally, Ben spoke. "Wow. We should have you sort out a lot more of our problems. You _really_ seem to know what to do." The group laughed.

"Well then, the problem now is, how do we _get_ them brave enough to properly communicate? " Meg said.

"Why don't we talk about communication in our next vlog? Like, encourage them to talk to each other." Bea said, turning around to look at Ben.

"Oh yeah, good idea!" Ben replied. "But I still think my basketball idea was better."

Bea playfully swiped at him (which was rather difficult from her position on his lap). Ben swatted her back.

"Hey!" Bea cried.

Ursula cleared her throat. "Guys… I think we should probably go back to the issue at hand…"

"Oh. Sorry." Ben said immediately, face red.

Ursula continued. "So we're going to mention communication in the next video. That works. But we still need to make it obvious to Pedro that Balthazar still likes him, or the other way around."

"My basketball idea-" Ben started, but Bea interrupted him. "Maybe we should also mention that on our vlog? Like say we heard from Ursula that Balthazar really likes Pedro? It's not exactly a lie…"

Ben nodded. "Okay. But if we're going to flat-out state that Balthazar likes Pedro, shouldn't we ask his permission? Like you said Ursula, he'd probably feel uncomfortable. We don't want to embarrass him or anything."

"That seems like the better thing to do," agreed Hero. "Why don't we call him?"


	3. Reaction

"Hey- I heard from Ursula that Balthazar really likes Pedro."

Balthazar grimaced and buried his face in his arms. He knew he'd agreed to this; "Team Love Gods 2" had even let him _look over the video_ just to make sure it was okay and they could put it up... but that didn't make hearing it _on Youtube! _any easier. This was probably his tenth time- at least- watching this, and each time, _that sentence_ jabbed at his ears like a mangled guitar chord. "Hey- I heard from Ursula that Balthazar really likes Pedro."

Balthazar let out a small groan. He was thankful that Bea and Ben were trying to help, he really was. And he wanted Pedro to know how he felt. But it still didn't feel quite right seeing it on this video. Well, at least this time, Pedro couldn't laugh and pass it off as a joke, Balthazar thought wryly. Balthazar couldn't come up with any better ideas; this was the only solution. He knew it. And if Pedro really actually genuinely liked him...

Balthazar caught himself just in time. A slow smile had been forming on his lips, and his mind had begun to drift off into one of his daydreams. He couldn't let that happen, couldn't get his hopes up. _But still…_ This time, the smile came back, and he didn't try to stop it.

Balthazar played "BLEURGH " one more time. His face didn't get red at _that sentence_, which he considered an improvement. He was even able to laugh a bit at Bea trying to get out of the bath, and Ben's "_ca-caw!_" right before he kissed her. They were perfect together, all right. And maybe Pedro and him could be like that someday too. He would just have to see.

"Hey- I heard from Ursula that Balthazar really likes Pedro."

Pedro stared at the screen in shock. He backtracked a few seconds just to make sure his ears were functioning properly. Yup. There it was again. "Hey- I heard from Ursula that Balthazar really likes Pedro."

Despite Bea's too-wide smile, her tone of voice, Ben's short laugh, the fact that Ben had _fucking emailed the link to him_, he was almost certain this wasn't a joke. After all, it just wouldn't make sense.

Pedro leaned back in his chair, hands resting behind his head, and took a deep breath. His heart was beating at an abnormal pace, and he needed to think about this. It was no secret that Balthazar was gay. But that he would like _him _of all people... And that Pedro would like him back...

Pedro had always thought of himself as straight. After all, he'd had that crush on Bea a couple months ago, before she'd laughed in his face and he finally realized how perfect she was for Benedick. And he'd dated girls before too. He was straight, he had to be. All-around straight guy, he thought, shaking his head a little.

But now there was this Balthazar situation.

Pedro couldn't quite remember when exactly he had started looking at Balthazar differently. Sometime after Bea's rejection he thought, but not early enough for him to form coherent thoughts on "An Ode ". He'd tried dropping a few hints, he remembered, but he hadn't been sure if he was imagining Balthazar reacting or not. He didn't even know if Balthazar liked him at _all_, it'd been so confusing. And "An Ode " had only complicated matters. That it was a joke was the easier thing to believe. But now he had _proof_ that Balthazar had feelings for him.

The next issue was, Pedro was a little afraid of coming out to everyone.

His friends would be fine, he was sure. Bea had said it so casually, and Ben hadn't been surprised either. He could only guess that the rest of the gang would be okay too.

His family would be cool with it too, happy for him, even. They'd become a lot more understanding since John left.

Everyone else at school though, he wasn't sure. Being bi definitely wasn't going to help him "fit in" or "be accepted" or seem "normal". There were students in Messina High who were definitely homophobes, and he couldn't ignore them as easily as Balthazar did. Besides, Balthazar always seemed to be the quiet kid in the shadows, not really calling any attention to himself, so he was mostly left alone. With student-representative-Pedro though, it would be different.

But Pedro was in love with Balthazar. He couldn't deny it, and he didn't want to fight it either. And the more he thought about it, he didn't really care much about the kids at school. Fuck normality.

Pedro took another deep breath and continued playing the video. A few lines at the end stuck out to him.

"Talk to people even if they don't really know what they're feeling, or you don't even know what you're feeling." Well, Pedro knew exactly how he was feeling, and if Ursula was right, what Balthazar was feeling too.

"And talk to people who don't talk very much, 'cause that's- that's really important." Pedro was almost certain that sentence was directed specifically at him and Balthazar.

By the end of "BLEURGH ", Pedro had made his decision. He'd always prided himself on his communication skills, but this time... it probably wouldn't go as smoothly. But he had to try. Fingers trembling, dialed Balthazar's number.

_Pedro Donaldson. All-around great bi._

He liked the sound of that.


	4. Communication

Balthazar's cell phone was ringing ("Sigh No More", Mumford and Sons version). He put down the guitar he'd been casually strumming for the last couple of minutes, looked over at the number, and immediately froze.

Pedro. Pedro Donaldson was calling him. _Has he watched the video yet?_

Balthazar picked up the phone, hands shaking. His initial "hey" came out as more of a croak.

"Hey," Pedro replied, voice a little softer than usual, Balthazar noticed. Unless he was just imagining things. "Balth."

"Yeah?"

"Bea and Ben's last video-" (Balthazar took a deep breath) "I- I watched it."

"And?"

"They said that... we- you- that you liked me and I don't know if you still- but we have to communicate- and I just don't know-" Pedro's agitated voice stopped suddenly. The line went dead for a few seconds. Then… "Fuck this."

"What?"

"Fuck it. I can't- just- can we talk? Can I come over? Now?"

Balthazar felt his heart rate accelerating, feeding on the cocktail of hope and terror that was running through his veins. "Sure." he said weakly.

"Um… great!" Was it just him, or was Pedro's voice quivering a little? "See you? In a bit then?"

"See you."

And just like that, the call ended. Balthazar let the phone drop from his hand, not even noticing it hit the ground. _Deep breaths_.

Pedro left a note on the kitchen table (_Going to Balthazar's. Will be back soon._) Balthazar's house was a pretty short drive; he could walk, but he wanted to be there as soon as possible. He just hoped he'd be able to operate the car with all this pent-up nervousness.

Luckily, the way from his house to Balthazar's was pretty quiet tonight. No accidents.

When he got to the house, another miracle- he somehow managed to park without demolishing anything.

He hoped this was a good sign.

It took Pedro several tries before he was able to ring the doorbell though. His mind was screaming at him (something it'd been doing quite a lot recently). Most of it went along the lines of: _What the fuck are you doing? You don't deserve Balthazar after what you did to Hero. She was your friend, and you refused to believe she was innocent? You could've at least asked Claudio to talk to her in private instead of slut-shaming her in front of everyone! Balthazar didn't talk to you for a week after that, what makes you think he's changed his mind about you? For all we know, Balthazar no longer likes you, but Ursula doesn't know yet. Or maybe the whole thing's a mistake, who knows? Turn back._

Of course, Balthazar hadn't seemed angry when he called, or during the picnic. But he was _Balthazar_; he was hardly ever mad...

Pedro's thoughts stopped when Balthazar opened the door. His hair looked messier than usual, and his eyes a bit disheveled, but even then, he still looked adorable. Pedro's throat got dry just at the sight of him.

_Say something you idiot!_ "Um… hi."

Balthazar's face looked as uncertain as Pedro felt. "Hey. You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah." Pedro said, looking fixedly at his feet.

"You can come in, you know."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. Thanks."

Pedro followed Balthazar to the couch.

"Wait…" Balthazar said, moving a gigantic stack of sheet music and a guitar off the couch. "There. There's room to sit down now."

Pedro knew Balthazar well enough to know that he only composed _this much_ when he was agitated by something. Or someone. But he didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

Pedro took his seat on the couch. Balthazar sat down next to him.

"So. You saw the video?"

"Yeah."

An awkward silence stretched between the two. Then Balthazar turned towards Pedro. "I get it, if you don't- if you don't like me back, it's fine, you don't have to-"

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Oh."

Another long silence. Pedro frantically fumbled for words in his mind but came up with nothing. Well, he was going to have to wing this then.

"What I was_ going_ to say was… I'm a terrible person. And friend. And I've been wrong. A lot. And you… You're perfect. And kind and caring and brave and the best friend anyone could have." _Deep breath_. "And there's no way I deserve you. But I- I like you. A lot. And I'm not sure how you feel about me, if you still feel the same, but if you do…" Pedro paused to take another breath. "If you do I…" He stopped again, looking at Balthazar's face. His eyes were wide, lips slightly parted, staring at him. _Keep talking for God's sake! You're supposed to be communicating! _But Pedro couldn't think of anything to say. So he did the next best thing. He kissed Balthazar.

The next second or so was a violent battle in Pedro's brain between Team "What the Fuck Are You Doing You Idiot?" and Team "This is Actually Really Nice".

And Team "What the Fuck Are You Doing You Idiot?" probably would've won too, if Balthazar hadn't suddenly wrapped his arms around Pedro's neck and kissed him back.

Seconds soon lengthened into minutes, and by the time their lips finally pulled apart, they were both gasping for air. Pedro caught his breath first. "I'm guessing that's a yes then?" he whispered weakly, lips still clinging to the memory of Balthazar's mouth.

Balthazar let out a choking laugh and leaned his head forward so that his forehead was touching Pedro's. "I think it is."

Pedro let out a small laugh and pulled Balthazar closer. "I still don't deserve you."

"I don't care."

"But I do."

"Everyone's forgiven you."

"I haven't forgiven myself."

"Then try."

"I am!"

"Then try harder."

Pedro sighed. "Okay."

"Good," Balthazar replied, giving him a shy smile. "Also, your hair's all messed up."

Pedro blushed a little, remembering exactly how his hair had gotten like that. "So's yours."

The next few minutes consisted of the two trying (unsuccessfully) to restore each other's hair to its original state. It was given up as a lost cause after a while. Anyway, their laughing and falling over on the couch afterwards soon erased all their hard work.

"How long did you tell your parents you'd be gone?" asked Balthazar.

"I didn't give a specific time..."

"Do you wanna stay a little longer then?"

_Yes! _"Sure."

Balthazar got a few blankets from upstairs (it was getting cold), and the two snuggled up against each other.

They stayed like that for a while, Balthazar's head resting on Pedro's chest and Pedro playing with his hair. Then Balthazar turned around to look at Pedro. "When are we telling the others?" he asked.

Pedro hadn't thought about that yet. "Maybe we should wait a little? Just to like, get used to this and stuff?"

"Sure." Balthazar said, then added with a grin, "By the way, I forgot to tell you, Bea and Ben and the rest of the gang have got a giant convoluted plan drawn up for setting us up. Should we just let them proceed and take the credit?"

"Wait… _what_? They're actually doing this? _Oh_, is that why Ben sent me the link to 'BLEURGH'? I suppose it worked, then."

"Yeah, but they've still got a detailed plan for the next week or so."

Pedro laughed. "If they want to feel better about themselves, let them. How do you know about this anyway?"

"'Team Love Gods part 2' asked me for permission to post 'BLEURGH'."

"And they showed you their master plan?"

"They might've left me in the room alone, for a while, and I might've seen some of it... by accident..."

Pedro shook his head and laughed. "Well, what's next?"

"Ben's going to borrow your phone and check your call history to see if you've talked to me yet. If not, next time we're all in the same house, he's apparently going to barricade us in a room together until we talk. I think he's gotten John to help too."

"Wow, that escalated quickly. Sounds fun. Guess I better delete my call history then?" God, Balthazar had the cutest laugh.

Pedro opened his phone and saw the time. Damn, it was later than he expected. "It's getting late; I better get home before my parents start to worry. See you?"

"See you." Balthazar replied with a grin. "Wait, but first…" Balthazar carefully took Pedro's hand and twined his fingers into his.

"Yup," Balthazar said, "it fits."

Pedro planted a quick kiss on Balthazar's forehead before walking out the door. Like on the drive to Balthazar's, his hands were shaking, but this time for entirely different reasons.


	5. Waste

"Okay, the second meeting of Team Love Gods part 2 has commenced!"

Ben heard Beatrice laugh from the side of him, decided to ignore it, then turned around to look at the people assembled before him. They were meeting at his house today, the same crew as last time, with the addition of one: They'd invited John, and he'd actually agreed (albeit reluctantly), which Ben took as a sign he was moving on, getting better. Even if John was huddled in a corner on the opposite end of the room and avoiding the looks of everyone else there (which was quite frequently; Bea seemed to find it necessary to shoot him suspicious looks every couple of seconds).

He continued. "Report on status of Mission Pedrazar?"

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Claudio asked with a slight grin.

"Yes it is, and I'm rather proud of it; I came up with it at-"

"Three." Bea interrupted cuttingly. "Three in the morning. Which I just so happen to know because you found it necessary to call me, at three in the morning, to tell me about the witty ship name you spent all night to think up, when you really should've just peeked at the comments on 'An Ode'."

Ben gave her an indignant "hey!", but couldn't really think of anything else to say.

"_Anyway..._ " said Bea, "about your whole 'report on status' thing, I was able to drop my pencil in History today and get it to roll under Pedro's desk. I temporarily stole his phone and checked his history. He's watched 'BLEURGH'. But he hasn't called Balthy yet. It's been _five fucking days_! Claudio, how has your project been going?"

"I've been spying on Pedro and Balthazar during lunch. Nothing out of the ordinary in their conversations. But maybe I missed something. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable hiding in a bush for half an hour _every day _is?"

Ben couldn't help but feel a little amused. He knew that Bea'd given Claudio that job for very specific reasons.

"All right then, I suppose they haven't talked yet. Hero? Ursula? Meg? John? Has Pedro said anything to you about Balthazar? Or vice versa?"

Four shakes of the head greeted his question.

"And we already know Balthazar didn't say anything when he came over to Bea's to force her into posting that beautiful song she wrote declaring her everlasting love for-" Ben's sentence was interrupted by a sharp poke in the ribs, which hurt more than you might think it would. "Ow!"

"Shut up, dickface," a red-faced Bea whispered, elbowing him in the ribs _again_ just for good measure.

"All right then," Ben said, attempting to smirk through his wince, "How should we proceed next? We can always try the fake-texting… or just go straight to the room-barricading. Pr a combimation of both. Also, my basketball idea is always hanging out there. Just a thought."

Meg raised her hand. "We could always just, you know, have you guys film another vlog that's even more obvious than the last one."

"Actually…" Bea said. Ben nodded at her encouragingly to continue. They'd talked about this last night (after the whole Pedrazar thing), and he guessed it made sense. For Bea at least. "I don't think I'll be making any more videos from now on. Me and Hero'll film a quick one tomorrow or something, and that'll be it. This whole… vlogging thing's just been dominating our lives too much, and I just think that I don't want my whole life to be lived in front of the camera. Hero thinks so too."

Meg looked at Beatrice for a moment, then nodded. "Oh. Okay then. That's fine. So, room-barricading now? We can steal Pedro's phone again to invite Balthazar to the dinner party thing he's having with you guys, and then you can just lock them in a room together!"

Ursula shook her head. "No. That's not going to work as anything but a last resort. If we want them to communicate, it has to be on their own terms."

"I agree with Ursula," Hero said. "Let's give it a few more days before we decide on what to do."

"Well then," Bea said, "I declare this meeting over. And an utter waste of time."

Ben couldn't help but agree. Everyone else nodded as well. As the gang filed out the door, Ben wondered why in the world John was smiling so much.


	6. Sparks

"I'm going to Balthazar's!" Pedro cried as he slammed the door shut behind him, making it a point to ignore the exaggerated eyebrow wiggles John was giving him. He wasn't in the mood for it. Not today.

"Remember to come back before six!" his mom called after him. "Hero's parents are coming in an hour or so!"

Pedro's felt a spasm of fear pass through his body at those words. Hero's parents. And Hero and Beatrice. At a dinner party. With him and John. Tonight.

Pedro was terrified.

He knew none of the parents knew what had happened. He was pretty sure they didn't even know about the vlogs.

But they'd know something was wrong pretty fast. Because even if Pedro and John were forgiven, they still weren't talking with Hero and Bea much.

Hero had repeatedly told him, "It's _fine_!" in response to all his apologies. But he still hated himself for hurting her _so badly_. They'd talked a few times after all the shit after her party'd been sorted out, but it just wasn't the same as before. They could still be friends, but not like they had been.

Bea had forgiven him too, he thought at least. She hadn't acted much differently around him during the picnic. She still waved to him at school. Sometimes, though, her smile looked a bit forced, and though she waved, she hardly ever stopped to chat. And she was eating lunch separately with Ben now, at a table far, far away from him. Though Pedro wasn't entirely sure he was the only reason.

They'd both forgiven what he'd done, but they weren't going to forget anytime soon. Pedro couldn't do either.

He'd talked with John last night about it (after John gave him a briefing on the second meeting of Team Love Gods part 2). He'd succeeded in making John feel better, but he still hated himself.

Hopefully, Balthazar could help with that.

Pedro rang the doorbell.

Balthazar opened the door carefully. It was Pedro. The mere sight of him got his heart rate accelerating. "Hey," he whispered, grinning.

"Hey," Pedro whispered back, but his grin looked strained.

"The dinner party?"

Pedro sighed. "Yeah."

Pedro stepped inside. "Are your parents home?"

"Yeah."

"Have you told them?"

"Yeah."

Pedro didn't seem surprised. "What did they say?"

"They're really happy for us. A bit surprised, but happy. I've sworn them to secrecy until we're ready to go public though."

"Okay, fine with me."

"What about your family?"

"John knows, but my parents don't yet."

"When are you planning to tell them?"

"Dunno."

Balthazar couldn't help but take Pedro's hand as they walked upstairs to his room. He turned to look at Pedro, who was staring down at his feet. Balthazar gave Pedro's hand a sympathetic squeeze. "Are you okay?"

"Not really."

Balthazar opened the door and sat down. He picked up the nearest instrument, a ukulele. Pedro flopped down next to him and lay down.

"Do you want me to play you something?" Balthazar asked, trying not to stare too long at Pedro lying on _his bed_.

Pedro nodded.

So Balthazar absentmindedly strummed a few chords of a song he'd written a few days ago, singing softly.

"_Tell me what you want me to say_

_Tell me if you'd rather I go_

_Or if I stay_

_For a while I'll be on my o-o-own..."_

Pedro closed his eyes. Balthazar looked at him quickly before he continued.

"_This fire's been burnt out_

_Through time apart_

_But I've been able to see more sparks_

_As all's turned dark_

_This valley of ashes that I once roamed_

_Ain't the same_

_Let's see if one of these sparks turns into a flame…_

An instrumental solo was up next, then:

"_I've never walked this path under my feet_

_But the embers underfoot don't feel as if_

_They will burn_

_To me_

_This is no longer the place that I kno-o-ow_

_Tell me what it is you want to see_

_I'm worried that it's something that I_

_Can't_

_Guarantee that anything will be the same anymo-o-ore..."_

Pedro slowly sat up.

"_I thought that I'd leave it_

_Even though I don't know what to do_

_I thought that I'd leave it_

_A lonely wreck left behind down and blue_

_I thought that I'd leave it_

_Even though I don't know what to do_

_I thought that I'd leave it_

_A lonely wreck left behind down and blue..."_

Balthazar shot Pedro another nervous look. He was now sitting close enough for their arms to brush on the high notes.

"_Charcoal streaks run down your face_

_Now_

_Strike your last match and let it burn_

_Outside I see ash and rain fa-a-all…"_

Pedro was smiling slightly at Balthazar, and his heart jumped again. He'd probably already figured out who this song was for.

_"This fire's been burnt out_

_Through time apart_

_But I've been able to see more sparks_

_As all's turned dark_

_This valley of ashes that I once roamed_

_Ain't the same_

_Let's see if one of these sparks turns into a flame."_

A few more chords, and… the song was over.

"Was that the song you were writing a few days ago?" asked Pedro.

Balthazar nodded and tried to smile. "What did you think?"

"I love it."

_I love it. _ Balthazar didn't have to try this time for a grin. "Not hilarious this time?"

Pedro laughed and shook his head. "Not hilarious."

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Loads," Pedro said, leaning forward to drop a quick kiss on Balthazar's cheek. Balthazar blushed, which only resulted in another kiss from Pedro, this time on the lips. And lasting much longer.

"I really really like you Balth."

"I really really like you too."

Pedro left for the dinner party still smiling.


	7. one foot in sea

Balthazar usually wasn't late for things. But today, he'd been practicing for his gig the next morning, and he'd forgotten to check the time, and before he knew it, it was 7 pm and he was running as fast as he could to Hero's because Pedro had called him today in a bad state and he'd promised he'd be there for him. An hour. An hour late.

Balthazar rang the doorbell and Ursula let him in.

"Hey," she greeted him, "you're late."

"Hi, I'm sor-"

"Pedro's gone off to sulk upstairs or something with half the cake, why don't you go find him?" Ursula gave Balthazar a meaningful look.

"Oh- oh thanks! See you! Tell everyone I said hi!" Balthazar made his way to the second floor, hurriedly waving to Meg and some others on the way. The floor was pretty quiet, most of the guests were downstairs. But Balthazar could hear some voices coming from Hero's room. Stepping closer and pausing at the door, he could make out the voices of Pedro and Ben, but he wasn't sure what they were saying. He opened the door.

"Balthazar!" Ben cried. Pedro was sitting on the bed, looking at Ben in confusion. Then he followed Ben's gaze to Balthazar in the doorway and immediately stood up. Balthazar tried to smile, but he was too focused on how Pedro was wearing _black_ and looked like he had forgotten what being happy looked like. "

Yeah. Um, sorry I'm late, Ursula let me in, told me you'd disappeared off somewhere, so I thought I'd come to see if you're okay." Balthazar said quietly, trying to keep his tone casual.

Ben answered instead. "Oh, don't worry about me, I've got some cake, and that's pretty much me set!"

He continued, "But no- no, come on in, we're filming, so uh… you just come over here my friend…" -Ben grabbed Balthazar's arm and sat him down on the bed- "we'll put you here, and Pedro, you can sit down too, because you're standing there like an idiot."

Balthazar looked over at Pedro, who _was_ still standing there like an idiot. Pedro jumped.

"Oh. Yeah. Okay." The few inches from Pedro's position and the bed somehow managed to be great enough for him to trip over the bed and land face-down on it. Ben roared with laughter as Balthazar helped Pedro up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

It took a few more seconds to get everyone sitting properly. Ben turned back to the camera. "Well, now that we're all seated comfortably..."

Balthazar turned to Ben. "Um, so uh… what were you guys up to?"

"Ahhhhh… we… were just... doing something that's... a bit stupid!" Ben said slowly in the squeaky voice he always used when he was nervous. "Really, and isn't necessary to be done right now with certain people in the room, so we could just gloss over tha-"

"Ben here was trying to set me up with a girlfriend," Pedro interrupted.

"Oh, yeah," Balthazar said, turning back to Pedro with a question in his eyes. "Or- or a boyfriend."

"Or a boyfriend," Pedro agreed, "Actually, do you have any suggestions?"

_Does he want me to tell them?_ "Well… who have you covered so far?"

"No guys as of yet."

Ben looked over at Pedro. "Pedro, we don't need to do this, this is stupid-"

"So what about Tony?" Balthazar asked, choosing to play along for now.

"Surf life-saving Tony or other Tony?"

"Nah, surf life-saving Tony. You know, he used to be really into you."

Pedro gave him his I-might-think-about-it face.

"It's an idea," Balthazar said, shrugging. "But, um… what about other Tony?"

"He's back on with Cleo; she broke up with Gus for him."

"Well then, anyone you had in mind?" Balthazar asked with a confused look at Pedro.

"No, not- not really."

"Okay," Ben said, turning back to the camera, "No idea at all, who could we possibly-"

The door to the bedroom opened, revealing John. "Oh! Hi- hi! Um, Pedro, do you mind if I just… hide- in here with you guys? Ursula's year nines have been… kind of stalking me for the last half hour..."

"Yeah, sure bro, have a seat," Pedro replied.

The three boys moved over to make way for John.

"Oh, thank you!" John walked over to the bed. "Yup!" he added with a nod. "They are convinced that I've stolen their cat! Apparently, evil geniuses always need evil cat psychics."

Ben laughed. "Well- well, John, ex-leader of Team Evil, welcome to Team Love Gods part 2! Our celestial mission being to set Pedro up with someone. Anyone. Now, it's gonna be a real labour of love so that no one has to feel like a loser. Anymore."

"Well, uh, how about, uh-"

Pedro stopped him. "No. That's not something…" he gestured to Balthazar, "that we've talked about. Ever."

Balthazar looked at Pedro to figure out what he meant, but Pedro's gaze was focused at John.

"Oh! Yeah, you're right. Yeah." He leaned forward and thought. "Hmm- well… yeah. I don't know."

"Oh, not to worry," Ben said in his most sarcastic voice. "It's a _total_ mystery."

"Yeah," John said.

"Ooh, John! You've barricaded the door!" Ben exclaimed. "Very well done! Well then, Pedro, I guess there's no choice but to keep you here until we have an answer."

Balthazar looked down at the ground and smiled. Team Love Gods Part 2 was doing very well. He'd just have to see how Pedro would react.

"Okay!" Pedro said, looking exasperatedly at the ceiling. "Balthazar," he said, turning to him, and Balthazar couldn't help but feel a little giddy at the way he said his name, how it seemed to mean so much to him- "Do you wanna… go- outside with me?"

Balthazar nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

The door had just closed behind them when they burst into laughter.


	8. one on shore

John waited until Pedro and Balthazar had left, then went to the door and pressed his ear against it. They were laughing their heads off. Of course.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they went downstairs or something," he called to Benedick. If he wanted to take credit for "Operation Pedrazar", so be it.

"Very good teamwork, my friend," Ben said, grinning and raising his hand for a high-five. "Nicely done."

John returned the high-five, then sat back on the bed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Huh. I'm really happy for those two." And he was.

"Mmh, I'm afraid that's the love god in me out, my friend, I'm just _too_out of energy to find that someone for you."

_What?_

Benedick turned back to look at John. "That was a joke, John, and when someone says a joke, we _laugh_."

_A joke. Okay. Good._

"C'mon Chuckles. We can laugh." Ben smiled encouragingly.

John opened his mouth and tentatively let out a few "ha"s, just to appease Ben. Benedick made a shocked-delighted face at the camera, and he looked so ridiculous that John started to laugh genuinely. Then Benedick joined in, and his laughter was much too contagious for John to do anything but laugh more. By the time they stopped, his throat hurt for lack of oxygen.

"Was that your first ever laugh?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Stop," John said, letting out another chuckle.

"I'm... freaking out right now! I'm actually quite proud of myself- for this; I'm a funny guy."

John wrinkled his nose to stifle the next laugh that was trying to escape his mouth. "You know, I'm pretty sure Balthazar's liked Pedro since year nine."

Ben looked surprised. "Yeah- yeah, but _how_? You weren't even at _Messina_ back then, how- _how_ do you know these things?"

John shook his head in amusement. "Some people. They can be _so_ oblivious to the obvious." He remembered all his dad's phone calls. Every time, he would mention something about Balthazar and Pedro. _They're great friends, and Balthazar is just so talented! Did you know he wrote a song for your brother last week?_ Yup, friends. Totally.

Ben chuckled. "Is that a dig at me? I mean, I knew about Balthy liking Pedro, I just didn't know about… well, _Pedro_."

John gave Ben a confused look. "Really?"

"Yeah- wait, you knew he was bi?"

_Wait, you mean you didn't? You're one of his best mates, surely you must've noticed?_ "Of- of course! I mean, isn't that what you guys meant by 'all-around great guy'?"

Ben laughed again. "No- no, but, uh, it _does_ work like that, doesn't it? No, um- I just don't understand how_you_ knew, but _I_ didn't, and even_Bea_didn't!"

_How I knew? I live with him! There's a reason his favorite color's purple!_ "Benedick. I'm his brother."

"Alright," Ben replied. "Hmm. So. John. Johnny. Johnny boy... You got any hobbies?"

"Everyone has hobbies, I-" His sentence was interrupted by Bea flinging the door open. She stood there in the doorway, panting for a moment, then gasped out, "I suggest both of you stay _far_, far away from the closet in the closet near the kitchen. Any closet downstairs actually. Or in the entire house. Also, your plan worked."

"What?" Ben asked, but John had already figured it out.

"Walked in on Pedro and Balthy, did you?"

"Yes, how did you-"

"Ben's matchmaking skills are beyond description," John replied, "We'd better warn the others."

Just then, a small shriek came from downstairs.

"Too late!" Ben cried cheerfully.

The three rushed downstairs to find a red-faced Claudio frantically apologizing to an equally red-faced Balthazar and Pedro.

John burst out laughing. "Hey, you two, lock the door next time, will you?"

They returned to Hero's bedroom, but not before figuring out Balthazar and Pedro's next hiding place and putting a "KEEP OUT" sign on the door.

"Hey, at least we aren't that bad," Ben told Bea, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

John shook his head in disbelief. "You totally are."

Bea turned around to look at John, then noticed the camera. "Wait. Are you filming?"

"Oh! Oh- yeah!" Ben said. "I forgot… we'll cut you out before we put this on Youtube, I know-"

"Yeah, thanks. I'll leave and let you two finish up, see you later! Oh, also, Meg says she is going to personally kill you for taking half the cake. Also, I'm supposed to be ripping your heart out and eating it for the same reasons, but I think I'll let you go. For now." The door shut.

"Uh oh."

"That's not good," John agreed.

"Anyway, about what I was saying earlier, setting you up with someone, do you have anyone in mind?"

_Should I? I still don't really know..._ "Not really."

"Oh, c'mon John, there's got to be someone! Let's see, do you wanna make a list or someth-"

_Definitely not._ "No."

"Okay then, how about-"

_Fine, if he wants an answer so badly…_ "Actually, I think I used to really like Hero."

"_Hero-_ what?"

"But I'm not so sure now, and I was such a dick and I'm pretty sure she'll never actually forgive me…"

"_Hero?_"

"And I think Cora and I- something was going on, but she hasn't really talked to me since I came back and I think I don't really like her that way-"

"_Hero?_"

"Is- is there anything wrong with that? Like I said, I'm not sure now-"

"No! No- that's- great actually, but-"

John suddenly felt very tired._I probably should be getting home._ "There's- definitely some important things we need to discuss-" he began abruptly.

Ben looked a little startled. "No, absolutely!"

"Oh, god, but I don't think these big… social events are just- for me, you know? I think I'll just go home." John got up. "Tell Hero I said thanks for the party!"

"Ah, yeah, no problem! No- a follow-up to this conversation is definitely something that should happen."

"Yeah," John replied, shutting the door behind him. "See you, Benedick!"

"See you later, John." Benedick sighed and looked down at his phone. _operation pedrazar successful, might have new project in future, no confirmation yet_, he typed.


	9. one in the boiling hot lava

It was midnight already, and the party was still going. Hero's mums had already gone to bed, but they were cool with everyone else staying as long as they wanted. Most of the guests had left, but there were still a few left. Which was good, because Ben needed to check with everyone in his video before editing and uploading it.

He started with Pedro and Balthazar (they were totally fine with him putting everything up on YouTube). He then asked Bea if he could keep any footage of her and the whole "Pedro-and-Balthazar-in-the-closet-stay-out" thing ("Come on, it's comedy gold!), but she'd been adamant in her refusal ("No. And if you say anything else, I'm rethinking whether or not to eat your heart out. That was a good cake."). So, sighing, he cut all that out, plus the couple minutes or so where the room was empty and everyone was downstairs. He also cut out the whole "John-Hero" thing before asking Pedro to help him edit the fifteen or so minutes of footage left (John had left, so Ben couldn't ask him about it, but he was pretty sure he'd prefer his love life to remain off camera, and maybe private from his brother too.).

Finding Pedro took a while (it took a lot of cautiously opening doors), but eventually Ben found him and Balthazar half-asleep on the sofa together. It took a while longer to get him upstairs; Balthazar had to tell Pedro he'd be fine by himself. From the way Pedro was acting, you'd think a gang of his evil exes were going to come up and try to kill him while he was gone or something. Eventually though, they were back upstairs in Bea's room (she'd let them borrow her computer).

"Okay," Ben said, "the beginning's all right, we just need to get rid of the part when no one was in the room…"

"Do we really need to keep the whole 'sulking-in-a-corner' part?"

"Yes! It builds up tension and susp-"

"Okay, okay, just keep it then."

"So now we have you sulking and apologizing for like forever…"

"You totally lied about the camera not being on."

"Still don't regret it! I mean, how else would we have gotten grumpy-cat Pedro?"

"Your winking skills are questionable."

"My winking skills are beyond description."

"Yeah, 'cause they don't exist."

"_Anyway_… I think we can cut out this 'sorry'…"

"Keep it in."

"If you say so! And now we have us eating cake…"

"Better delete that if you don't want Meg and Bea to rip out your heart and eat it."

"But it's _cake_! And they already know."

"Fine. Let's put evidence of your food thievery on YouTube, shall we?"

"I didn't _steal_ the food; it's a party; you take food whenever you want!"

"Whatever."

"And here are about fifty more Pedro-apologies in the clips of us eating cake! I'm cutting those out."

"But-"

"Shush. They're gone. See? Okay, and now there's the Team Love Gods discussion, we can cut out some of the apologies there… okay. Good! Oh wait, there's _still_ an apology here… But I think we can keep that in, it helps in character development and transitions to our next topic of conversation…"

"Character development. Seriously?"

"Yes, character development. And now here's us pausing our discussion to eat more…"

"Cut that bit out; Bea and Meg didn't notice us taking that food and it's out of shot the rest of the video. We don't need them to notice now."

"Alright then… so now here's the girlfriend conversation- how does your hair do that anyway? Do your hands just ooze hair gel or something?"

"Yes. They do."

"And… enter Balthazar!"

"Did John like wait outside the door and then shove him in right then on purpose?"

"Actually, no. God, you standing there like an idiot looks even worse on camera."

"Balthazar was not talking to you, Ben."

"Yeah, just figured that out."

"We don't need me tripping over the bed, do we?"

"Come on, we've _got_ to keep that part in! You looked hilarious!"

"No."

"Fine, fine then. It's out. Back to the video!"

"It is amazing how high your voice can go when you're nervous."

"Shut up. Ooh, did you just put your arm around Balthazar?"

"Maybe. Okay, and here's you being confused and having no idea what's going on, unlikely it's because of your massive intellect..."

"I still wasn't sure if you were bi!"

"But you were sure enough to write up a complicated plan involving barricades and phone-stealing to set me up with a guy."

"How do you know about the phone-stealing?"

_Oops._ "Well... It isn't very hard to notice when a girl takes much longer than supposed to to retrieve her pencil from beneath your desk. Also, zippers make sounds. I just guessed Bea had a good reason for doing so. She probably shouldn't try that on anyone else though; most people don't take kindly to having their phones snatched out of their bags."

"I will remind Bea to practice her phone-stealing skills in the future... So Balth asks you if you have any ideas, and you say no… there's a lot of awkwardness going on; let's just cut those couple seconds out… and now John comes in- do you think he'll be okay with being in the video?"

"Yeah- yeah sure… wait… I'll text him and ask, just keep it in for the moment."

"So, video again. Evil cat psychics are the best."

"Glad you think so."

"Look at my beautiful introduction of Team Love Gods part 2."

"You basically just gestured at me and Balthazar."

"I basically just did."

"What's with the whole 'labor-of-love' thing?"

"Dunno, just seemed like the right thing to say. By the way, how did John know you liked Balthazar? He's obviously about to suggest him."

"No idea, he's probably gaining Ursula's all-knowing powers from his evil cat psychic."

"Better not hear Ursula's year nines hear you say that or John's gonna be tied up and questioned in their 'clubhouse'. As well as force-fed cornflakes."

"Good point. Speaking of John, he's just texted me back, he wants to- talk? with you?"

"Oh- oh- okay."

Ben picked up the phone.

"Hey, Ben, you cut out the whole me-and-Hero thing, right?" John's voice was urgent.

"Oh - yeah, of course. Anything else you don't want in?"

"No, everything else is alright."

"Okay, thanks!" Ben pressed 'end', then turned to Pedro. "He says it's okay. Let's get back to editing."

Pedro hit play.

"My sarcasm game is straight on," Ben said appreciatively.

"Yeah, about as straight as me and Balthazar."

"Ha ha, a very funny joke, _bi_ Pedro."

"That made no sense."

"That made plenty of sense!"

"If you say so."

"Here's John and the famous door barricade!"

"God, I need to kill my brother for that."

"Wouldn't if I were you- ah! You and Balthazar are _going outside_! Tell me, how many seconds were you two outside before you started making out?"

"I didn't really think to count."

"John says it was remarkably quiet only a little while after you left..."

"Oh, shut up."

"I don't really think we need _this_ part... the rest is mostly okay."

The two watched for a while.

"Wait- wait... John is _laughing_?"

Ben nodded proudly. "Seriously though, _was _that his first ever laugh?"

"I think so. Pretty sure he was born with a frown and a death glare on his face. And... you two are _still_ going? You've been laughing for like a minute straight! You aren't even that funny! We're cutting some of this out."

"Okay; yeah, that's a decent length. Now we've finally stopped laughing..."

"Balthazar's liked me since_ year nine_?"

"Yes. Aren't you listening?"

"_Year nine_?"

"Yes! Shut up and watch your brother and me discuss your bisexuality, you lovebird. By the way, can I call you an all-around great bi now?"

"No."

"Come on!"

"No."

"Fine."

"What's this jump cut here?"

"Oh, well, uh... Bea... she was- she was in here for a few minutes and she asked us to cut her out, so I just did it before hand."

"Okay."

"And now John's leaving... the end. No more footage! That didn't take so long, did it?"

"It's two thirty, Ben."

"What?"

"Check your phone!"

Ben did so, then let out a slow whistle. "We are going to be _exhausted_ by the time Balthazar's gig starts today. Let's get this up on YouTube."

As the video uploaded, Pedro went downstairs to check on Balthazar. Ben watched him come back with the aforementioned person's arm around his waist. Not murdered by any evil exes then.

Balthazar gave Ben a sleepy wave, then promptly fell down on Bea's bed.

"He's really tired," Pedro whispered. "I'm going to take him home. Don't write the description without me."

Ben shook his head as Pedro gently raised Balthazar up and then led him out the door, using his shoulder to support him. "Bye!" he called after them. "Good luck on the gig tomorrow, Balth!" He'd leave any teasing for when Balthazar was fully awake.


	10. Gig

Bea had gotten about negative a million hours of sleep last night. Needless to say, she was exhausted. You'd think with her frequent 2 a.m. adventures, she'd be used to operating on minimum sleep, but apparently not so.

But she'd promised Balthazar that she'd be at his gig, and Beatrice Duke was not one to break promises.

Which explained why she was now in a coffee shop next to Ben when she should've been in bed, stirring her drink with a straw and willing the caffeine to kick in _very soon_.

She tried starting a conversation with Ben, but soon found that he was even worse at functioning properly when tired, at least, that's all she could tell from his position (slumped over on the table and making various complaining noises). Phrases Bea heard included "never again" and "_why_?". Bea just hoped his weight wouldn't tip the table over and land both her flat white and his cup of English Breakfast on the ground. How he'd managed to drive them without killing any birds was a mystery to all. Bea made a note to drive on the way back.

Talking to her other friends and some of the kids from school there (Balthazar had become somewhat famous after "SONG" and "Way to Tell You", so quite a few people had turned up) proved too difficult a chore for Bea's limited energy supply. Bea took another sip and sighed. Stupid caffeine wasn't stupid _working_.

Most of the others looked perfectly fresh, the lucky bastards. _They_ weren't up all night cleaning up with Hero. But then, Hero hadn't had much more sleep than Bea, and she looked perfectly fine. Practically perfect in every way. Of course.

_Why_ couldn't Balthazar have chosen a better time for this thing? Speaking of Balthazar, where the hell was he? Wasn't this supposed to be _his_ gig? Never mind that she was almost half an hour early, she hadn't seen him since that... _incident_ with Pedro (who also wasn't here) yesterday...

"John!" she called across the room and immediately regretted it. Ben shot up at the sound with a shout of "Expelliarmus!" and somehow managed the impressive feat of knocking over two cups and one table with just his elbow.

A lot of swearing and half a roll of paper towels later, the area around them was restored to its former glory, though missing two drinks. On the bright side, Ben was fully awake now, and Pedro and Balthazar had finally come in, sporting scarves that must've been stiflingly hot in this weather but were rather necessary to hide the not-so-inconspicuous marks on their necks.

Ursula rushed over to help them with the multiple instruments each were carrying, and the others soon followed suit.

"Careful with the keyboard- oh! Fuck, fuck, I think there's still a few things in the car- could you- thanks- don't mess up the sheet music! Thanks-"

Bea shook her head. You'd think an entire _band_ was going to be here judging by all the things Balthazar had brought.

"Is all this really necessary?"

Balthazar blushed and laughed a little. "Nah, but I guess... I just don't get many gigs and I want to do as well as I can."

Pedro appeared from out of nowhere and put his arm around Balthazar's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do great."

This resulted in a lot of them smiling sappily at each other and gazing into each other's eyes, that resulted in Bea having to mime barfing at how sickeningly sweet they were being, which then resulted in Pedro reminding her that she was the one who'd wanted to set them up in the first place, and somehow ended up being another loud I-don't-like-Bene_dick_ denial session whilst the many people in the cafe either looked bewildered (hello baristas), laughed (shut _up_ Ben!), or began pulling up _that video_ from YouTube (damn you Hero!). Bea stomped back to her seat (next to Ben, which didn't really help matters much) in a rather foul mood, but it's hard to stay mad at someone who's helped you write a song for your boyfriend and accompanied you on the ukelele. Bea still reserved the right to be mad at Pedro though.

Balthazar finished setting up. Bea checked her phone. Exactly one minute until showtime.

The minute passed, and Balthazar went up to the stage. He paused at the microphone. "Um… thanks to everyone for coming here… I- I really appreciate it. This first song is dedicated to my boyfriend. Pedro Donaldson."

His friends cheered. Pedro blushed.

The familiar chords of "An Ode" played out through the cafe. Bea leaned back and listened. The subject matter was a little old ("no wrong"? I don't think so…), but it was still sweet. He was very good, and the audience seemed to think so too. Even considering that Bea was pretty sure half the applause and cheering was coming from Pedro- who was staring at his boyfriend with a look of such awe that Bea wondered if he'd lost his mind or something- they were loud.

The rest of the performance was just as good. Balthazar did a few covers of "Mumford and Sons" songs, then moved on to a few of his own compositions: some that Bea had heard already and some she figured he'd just written, perhaps especially for this gig. She also figured almost all of them were about a certain Messina trash king.

Balthazar moved from piece to piece with ease, though he did stumble a few times. Up on the stage, he utterly transformed, immersing himself entirely in the music. It took a few shy smiles at the end of each song to remind Bea that this was _Balthazar Jones_ playing.

On second thought, maybe Pedro's awe wasn't all that crazy.

The last chord echoed through the cafe, and then Balthazar took an awkward bow to cheers.

"Thanks," he mumbled at the audience.

The music plus the coffee seemed to finally get Bea's energy up (Ben's too, apparently), so she found it no great difficulty to rush over to the stage to Balthazar and congratulate him on his performance. Ben was there before her, jumping and squealing like an overexcited fangirl and repeatedly asking for Balthazar's autograph while trying not to laugh. Apparently lack of sleep did not have an impact on his terrible sense of humor.

Balthazar took the praise rather well (for him): a lot less looking at the ground and stuttering than Bea had expected.

Afterwards, everyone helped Balthazar cart everything back to Pedro's car and they all went their separate ways. Bea with Ben and Hero, Meg with Ursula, Dogberry with Verges, John and Claudio by themselves but still a part of their group. Pedro with Balthazar.

It wasn't perfect, but who needs perfect when you have happy?


End file.
